The time of curved walls, ceilings and floors is gradually leaving our lives. Today, homeowners in many ways go to align the lines in their apartments and houses, the floor here plays the most important role. It is from the floor that the general horizontal of the room will be “drawn”. In order for it to be even, a screed with level guides is often used - the so-called beacons, with the correct installation of which the floor turns out to be smooth and perfectly even. How to set floor screed beacons on your own, without involving highly paid specialists in this field, is not an easy question, but solvable …
Types of couplers
Construction practice suggests that in different conditions and requirements coming from the customer for the manufacture of the floor, there may be different types of screeds. For nowmoment there are three main types:
- Dry screed. Often used to level expanded clay insulation, on top of which a “wet” screed will be made.
- Concrete, cement-mortar and dry screed. The most popular type used today in the process of building new premises and renovating old ones.
- Screed from self-leveling floor. A relatively new look that uses special self-levelling mortars.
Advice: the choice of beacons for floor screed should be made based on the type of future coverage.
Beacons used for dry and semi-dry screed
For this type of floor leveling, masters most often use the usual profile used in installing the wall frame for drywall. However, there are at least two ways to mount beacons:
- The first is that the beacons are laid on a low mound of mortar, and then the required plane is achieved using the rule and the level.
- The essence of the second method is that to set the level, use self-tapping screws and a pair of dowels screwed into the base of the floor. First, the two extreme ones are screwed in, after which the thread is pulled along the level, then every 30 cm it is necessary to screw in the missing ones. The profile for beacons for floor screed is installed on top of self-tapping screws and fastened in several places with mortar.
Tip: if you use gypsum mixtures for fasteners, you can start the main work in a few hours. When using cementthe mortar will have to wait at least a day, or even more (depending on the brand of cement), until the mortar sets.
Types of beacons for semi-dry cement-sand and concrete screed
This type of tie is currently the most popular among both professionals and the people. Its massiveness can be explained by two factors:
- Materials for the preparation of mortar are available to the average citizen, and everyone who is interested in self-repair knows them. It's cement and sand.
- Technology of work is quite simple. Any person who started repairs in his apartment will cope with it.
The lighthouses can be distinguished by the materials used for their manufacture: specialized, mortar, profile, steel pipe and wood. It should be said right away that the first type of beacons is cheap, but it “plays” very strongly, so its installation requires more time and perseverance than all the others. The question of how to set beacons for floor screed and make them correctly on their own is asked by many novice self-taught builders. However, after learning all the nuances of this process, it is quite possible to do it yourself.
Tube Lighthouse
A very convenient way to quickly set the floor level in the room. The undoubted plus of the pipe is strength, the lighthouse will not “play”. The downside is the high cost, but if filling is performed repeatedly and in large volumes, this option has a place to be. At the beginning andpiles of thick mortar are poured out at the end of the pipe, a pipe is laid on them and the height at the beginning and end of the room is adjusted using the water level.
Advice: it is preferable to use a corrugated pipe (it is rectangular), because even edges are more convenient when setting the level than round pipes.
Lighthouse from a profile mounted on mortar
All that needs to be done is to prepare a solution (thicker), lay it out in a mound in the direction from the far wall to the exit, install a U-shaped metal profile upside down on it. The mortar can be used based on gypsum or cement.
Tip 1: professionals recommend using the same material for placing beacons, which will be used for the entire screed, otherwise premature damage to the fill may occur.
Tip 2: the gypsum base under the lighthouse will dry in a couple of hours, the cement-sand base in a day or more, as a result of which you will have to wait more time.
Lighthouse from a profile mounted on self-tapping screws
This type of leveling is one of the most used. Its essence lies in the fact that small bars with edges of about 1.5 cm and a length of up to 15 cm are attached to the base of the floor, fastening is done after 25-30 cm. using thread for this. Then everything is simple - a U-shaped metal profile is taken, used for the frame of plasterboard walls, and installed on topself-tapping screws. The lighthouse is ready!
Lighthouse from solution
In this form, only a solution is needed. The initial stage is similar to the first method - a thick solution is laid out with a mound, then a chop thread or colored fishing line is pulled over the level, then the mound is leveled at the established level. After drying, the beacon can be used for its intended purpose.
Tip: this type of lighthouse is, firstly, relative (a perfectly flat line is almost impossible to achieve). Secondly, at this level, when pouring, the rule will not slide well. As a result, various kinds of “goosebumps” will appear in those places where the lighthouse passes.
Lighthouses made of wooden bars
Metal profile in construction appeared quite recently. As for the floor filling, it was used in ancient times and in Soviet times. Then, in the form of lighthouses, wooden bars were used. Their disadvantage is that, firstly, it is rather difficult to find perfectly even products, and secondly, when they dry, they can be deformed.
Advice: before placing the beacons for the floor screed from the bar, it should be well soaked, otherwise the bar may adversely affect the quality of the screed.
Combined
Also, there is a combination of several types of materials. The bottom line is that after a meter, a dowel-pair is driven into the base of the floor. Self-tapping screws are screwed into them according to the level. The void between the dowels is filledsolution.
Tip: the level of the solution should be higher than the screws are placed, since in the future you should take a rail (or profile) and press the composition to the same level with the screws.
Beacon used for semi-dry screed
Some craftsmen, who are trying this type of filling for the first time, are interested in the answer to the question: “How to correctly set the beacons for floor screed from a semi-dry solution?” When using this method, some masters generally do without the usual beacons and work only according to certain landmarks.
To do this, small piles of mortar are laid out in each corner, after which, one level at a time, they form, as it were, platforms - they will act as landmarks for the future screed. After the sites harden, you can spread the semi-dry mortar and fill the distance between the landmarks.
Advice: it is advisable to use this type of beacons in small rooms, because the width of the rule should “cover” the entire distance between the sites.
Beacon for "floating tie"
In some cases, a conventional underlay on the base of the floor is not enough for insulation, and builders use a foam layer as an additional insulation. In this case, the screed is popularly called "floating". The best version of the lighthouse in this case will be on self-tapping screws. Initially, self-tapping screws are installed, taking into account the thickness of the insulation in the base of the floor according to the level, then a layer of foam is laid (it is necessary to pierce it at the locations of the beacons).
Advice: after the installation of beacons for floor screed with your own hands, you should unscrew the screws and fill the voids with mortar.
Beacons for self-leveling floors
Recently, self-levelling mortars have appeared on the market. According to the manufacturers, there is no need for beacons to make a screed from this material. Professionals do not advise to neglect setting the level. In the role of a beacon, special tripods are used - benchmarks that are installed on the base of the floor. Their undoubted advantage is that the height is regulated by a simple turn clockwise or counterclockwise. Their disadvantage is the relatively high price.
Instead of benchmarks, you can use ordinary self-tapping screws, which are removed from the solution after pouring.
Tip: set benchmarks or self-tapping screws should be at a distance of 1 meter from each other.
Do I need to remove the beacons from the floor screed?
In order to answer this question, it is necessary, at least in general terms, to have an idea about the behavior of various materials when temperature and humidity change. Everyone knows from the school physics course that liquids, metals and gases expand when heated, and contract when the temperature drops. Moreover, it is necessary to take into account the fact that the volume of each chemical element changes in different ways. This also applies to changes in humidity. For example, raw timber may be 1 cm thicker than dried timber.
Based on this already, it can be understood that the screed should be monolithic - from one material. Soall foreign objects (bar, profile, pipe, self-tapping screws) must be removed. In addition, the metal has a high sound conductivity, which is also undesirable in high-rise buildings. Therefore, after the issue of how to set up beacons for floor screed has been resolved, and all work has been carried out, the moment of withdrawal follows.
Smooth floors are half of a good renovation. The floor and ceiling provide the main lines of visual perception of the room. That is why such an interest of professionals and craftsmen is shown to this issue. Summing up, we can say with confidence that any craftsman, having studied the above process, can easily determine which beacons for floor screed will be preferable in certain conditions and what nuances must be remembered when carrying out work.
